Africa’s iconic predators—lions, leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs—are most known for being cunning, stealthy, and vicious. But these meat-eaters are often misunderstood. The fiercely loyal African wild dog lives in close-knit packs, caring for the babies of the matriarch and patriarch, communicating by touch, and nurturing those who are sick or injured. Vultures rarely attack […]

I visited Khawr Rori on Tuesday afternoon for the first time in two weeks. There are two distinct birding areas and I went to both. One is the north west off-shoot of the main Khawr and which contains a large reed bed. It is approached from the main road. On arrival there I immediately came […]

I had dinner with visiting German ornithologists Heidi and Jens Hering on December 28th. The last time we had met was in Benghazi in 2011 days before the revolution started. It was good to see them again. In passing Jens mentioned he had seen and photographed a lesser flamingo at Khawr Rori the day before. […]

Receiving more ‘likes’ can boost a flamingo’s chances of attracting a mate, according to research taking place at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Just like Facebook-style online social networks, flamingo flocks contain lots of separate groups of friends which often gravitate around key individuals. Researchers are identifying these key individuals by recording how many ‘likes’ each […]

Phoeniconaias minorPhoenicopteriformes – Phoenicopteridae It is the smallest species of flamingo; it lives in sub-Saharan Africa with another population in India. It mainly breeds at Lake Natron in northern Tanzania andfeeds primarily on a cyanobacteria or Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes and contains the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their […]